Indian Soccer PIX: Krishna's late strike secures draw for ATK

IMAGE: ATK and Hyderabad secured a point each from the match. Photograph: ISL Media

Roy Krishna scored a brace, including a late equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw for ATK against Hyderabad FC in an Indian Super League match, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.

Krishna (15th, 90th minutes) scored both the goals for ATK, while Bobo (39th, 85th) was on target for Hyderabad as both the teams secured a point each from the match.

Phil Brown started with the attacking trio of Nestor Gordillo, Marcelinho and Bobo as they searched for their second win in the ISL.

Antonio Habas, on the other hand, chose to drop Michael Soosairaj and Prabir Das and handed a start to Jobby Justin and Sumit Rathi as the two wingbacks.

The first chance came in the seventh minute when Bobo found Nestor and the Spaniard's shot from inside the box missed the near post by a few inches.

Javier Hernandez's cross from the left was deemed to have been handled by Ashish Rai as the referee pointed to the spot. Krishna struck from the ensuing penalty as the visitors took the lead against the run of play.

Hyderabad should have equalised soon after as Marcelinho's corner-kick only needed a nudge after Arindam Bhattacharya came off his line and missed the flight of the ball.

They had another chance a few minutes later when Rohit Kumar, Adil Khan and Marcelinho combined but the Brazilian's final shot missed the target.

Hyderabad equalised in the 39th minute when Nestor sent in a cross from the left which was met by Bobo who headed it home despite being under pressure from Salam Ranjan and Pritam Kotal.

ATK could have taken the lead again as Jobby's header sailed over the bar from a Hernandez free-kick.

Krishna and Williams combined a few minutes later with the latter being fed by a quality cross. However, an important interception by Adil Khan denied Williams as Hyderabad survived a scare.

Both the coaches made a couple of changes as they searched for the second goal with Mohammad Yasir and Robin Singh coming in for the home side, while Prabir Das and Soosairaj were thrown into the mix for the visitors.

The second goal for Hyderabad came in the 85th minute. Marcelinho's cross saw Bobo glance it to the far post to beat Bhattacharya in goal to make it 2-1 for the home team.

However, ATK found a way back, thanks to an error by Kamajit. The goalkeeper's clearance went straight to Hernandez who headed it onto the path of Krishna. The Fijian striker simply lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper to rescue a point for the visitors.

Resilient Neroca deny Chennai City a win at home in I-League

IMAGE: Chennai City remain seventh on the table with five points while Neroca FC stay one place below with four points. Photograph: AIFF Media

Neroca FC came back from a two-goal deficit to secure a 2-2 draw against Chennai City FC in a Hero I-League clash at the JLN Stadium in Coimbatore.

Following the draw, Chennai City remain seventh on the table with five points while Neroca FC stay one place below with four points.

Chennai City FC started the game on a positive note with dominating possession from the onset. They started with an unchanged line-up from the match against Aizawl FC as the trio of Fito, Pedro Manzi and Sandro were unavailable for the match.

After launching attacks relentlessly on Neroca goal for the first 25 minutes, it seemed Neroca's defence would hold on till the end of the half, but eventually, they faltered.

It was Katsumi Yusa who was fouled by a Neroca defender inside the box and Chennai got a golden chance to go ahead.

In the 26th minute, Katsumi Yusa stepped up to take the penalty and converted the chance with finesse to hand Chennai a 1-0 lead.

With the clock striking 32 minutes, a beautifully built up play from the back and an inch-perfect cross into the box by Jockson Dhas found Mashoor Shereef inside the box, who didn't make any mistake and headed the ball into the goal from close to double Chennai's lead.

It was now up to Neroca to make a comeback before they head into half-time. Both coaches made some changes within the first half as Neroca brought on Gaty Kouami on for his compatriot Yawo Zico.

With Chennai City poised to go into the second half with a two-goal lead, Neroca FC struck in 45+3rd min with a header from under-22 midfielder Khaiminthang Lhungdim.

The score at half-time stood at 2-1 in favour of Chennai City.

Neroca stepped up the pressure on Chennai after the change of ends.

Even after playing a more pressing game Neroca wasn't able to break the defence, but a careless mistake by the Chennai defence lead to a foul inside the box on Boubacar Diarra and a penalty was awarded.

Diarra himself stepped up and scored from the spot-kick to level the score at 2-2 with the clock ticking 65 minutes.

Chennai were not ready to let it go and switched the gear but none were able to edge past Neroca captain and keeper Marvin Devon Phillip.

In the 82nd minute, Chennai launched a counter-attack and a perfect cross from the right-wing for Chennai ended at the feet of Katsumi but he couldn't control the ball and the chance went begging.

Within a few moments, Katsumi again found himself one-on-one with Neroca keeper but this time Phillip came out victorious.

Phillip had a couple of heart-in-the-mouth situations but the hosts were not able to exploit those situations.

In the 90th minute, Neroca made their final change to ensure that score stays the same as defender Dhananjoy Singh replaced Siam Hanghal and managed to hold on as the match ended in a 2-2 draw.